Building tile and wall made therefrom



L. H.-DE FERNELMONT. BUILDING T ILE AND WALL IVIADE-THEREFROM- APPLICATION FILED APR. 30, 19 19.

1,409,284, r Patented-Mar.14,1922.

LEONARD H. DE FERNELMON'I, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

BUIL ING TILE AND WALL MADE rHEnErRoM.

aoaasa. Original apnlicatlon filed May e, 1918,

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, LEONARD H. on FER- NELMONT, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in Building Tiles and Walls MadeTherefrom, of which the following is a specification. Mv invention has for its object the contitions, andlin which the tile'will properly interlock with other tiles of the same char-:

acter and provide ventilating apertures throughthe wall formed of such tiles.

' My object is also to so form the edges of the abutting walls of the tiles that they v maybe placed together without cement so 8, 1918, which describes both the mould for making the tile and the construction of the tile, this application being restricted to the tile itself and the use thereof in the formation of the wall structure.

My invention consists of a rectangular -fiat tile having two of its adjacent edges provided with projecting ribs and the remaining two adjacent edges provided with correspondingly shaped' grooves whereby a plurality of tiles may be interlocked by the ribs of any tile engaging the grooves in the next adjacent tiles, and said tiles further having opposing edges between the ribs and grooves on the one part and the outside walls or faces on the other part, said abutting edges being beveled so that when two tiles are interlocked they provide between them open grooves, preferably of-a V-shape cross section, which receives the sealing ce ment for smoothing the outer surface of the wall and making a'sound-tight joint between the abutting tile.

My invention also comprehends the method of erecting a wall composed of a plurality of tiles which have. interlocking engaging edges, to bring the several tiles into accurate engagement and present the tile are provided w th grooves 3 which:

Specification of Iletters Patent. Patented B131. 14, 1922. Serial No. 233,218. Divided'and this application filed April 30, 1919. Serial No. 293,599.

grooves in the faces between the tile along y theline'of juncture and thereafter sealing the joints of the tile by introducing cement into the grooves to form a smooth outer su'r: face.

My invention will bebetter understood by reference to the drawingsin which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a'build- ,ingtile embodyin struction of a s ecial form of building tile? particularly use n1 for inside walls, as par-"' my invention; F igure 2 is an e evation of my improved building tile with a portion of the same .broken away-to show the interior;

Flgure 3 1s a vertical cross section throug a wall composed of a plurality of my improved building tile united in interlocked arrangement; and Figure 4 is an edge view of the tile.

The body 1 of the tile is rectangular in shape and with flat parallel 'walls or faces. f On two of its edges at right angles, the tile 75' is provided wit-h raised'ribs 3 which in cross section are tapered so that the outer edge of therib structure is of less width than the width of the projection at its base. Similarly, the other two right angled edges of in cross section correspond to the-cross section of the raised ribs 3, said grooves being formed with inclined sidewalls and with a narrower bottom than the width of the opening at the top. The shape of the grooves 3 are the inverse of the shape of the ribs 3, so that an-ib of one tile may snugly fit into the groove of the adjacent tile; and said ribs and grooves provide an interlocking connection between the tiles,

which hold them in accurate alignment in a f the same plane. The maximum width of the ribs 3 and grooves 3 is considerably less than the total thickness of the tile, so that there is provided between the said ribs 3 and the outer faces of the tile, beveled surfaces 4, and similarly between the grooves 35 and the outer surface of the tile are ar ranged beveled surfaces 5. 'The bevel of the 100'. opposite edges 4 and 5 have their inchneso that said surface, if continued, would mtersect, and the result of this construction is that when the tiles are arranged one upon the other, as indicated in Figure 3, thebev- 1055 eled edges 4 and 5 of adjacent tiles provide recesses 6 which are preferably V-sha ed, and so that the bounding edges of the ace of the abutting tiles both below and on the lateral sides are separated by these lit-shaped, 311d" channels or grooves between the tiles for receiving cement as indicated at 8, and which thereby seals the joints and also strengthens the interlocked connection between the tiles and holds them' in perfect alignment. Furthermore, the fact that the bounding edges of the surfaces of the tiles are not permitted to come into direct contact, avoids the tendency to chipping the edges which invariably takes place where the edges abut solidly one upon the other, as has heretofore been the practice. I

In the present construction, the tiles are interlocked by positive. connection through the ribs and grooves and without any necessity for cement, and thereafter-the grooves 6 are cemented in the manner above described. The result of this construction, aside from making an excellent wall, enables one man to accomplish a great deal of more work measured in square feet of-wall surface than is possible in those constructions heretofore employed in which the successive tiles are required to be united through joints of cement or mortar. In the method of construction here shown, the workman may erect several times more wall structure .than he could accomplish in those forms where the cement was required to be introduced between the tiles when setting them in place, and consequently the cost of erecting a wall of this nature is greatly less than similar walls under the old construction have cost for erection. It is also manifest that a neater and cleaner job may be accomplished by employing the tile of the present invention than those forms in which the'joints were laid in cement or mortar. Itis also to be understood that in erecting a wall having my present improvement, the accuracy in positioning the tile is absolutely assured, because the tiles are all molded exactly alike and when interlocked are bound to take definite positions. whereas when tiles are set in cement or mortar, it is not easy for the mason to properly position every tile in respect to the adjacent tiles, as they are liable to come a'little too'high or a little too low or not in true vertical alignment, due to the irregularity in the amount of cement or mortar between the tiles.

'- As shown in the drawings, the tile is prowhich opens through the central portion of the rib 3. In this manner the tile is made light and withal, strong. Furthermore,

tile insures an excellent, light and drywall," i

which is effective as av non-conductor of sound from one room to the next, and consequently walls of this character are desirable between apartments'and oflices.

I do not restrict myself to any particular character of plaster material from which to mold the tiles, as any suitable material heretofore in usem'ay be employed, but the im-' proved tile shall have its edges partly grooved and partly ribbed with flaring or inclined shoulders at each side of .the grooves and ribs, and further provided with a plurality of parallel tapered apertures having shouldered and contracted passages at one end where they extend into one of the ribbed edges.

It will now be'apparent that I have dc vised a novel and useful construction which embodies the features of advantage enumerated as desirable, and while I hax e in the present instance shown and described the preferred embodiment thereofwhich has been found in practice to give satisfactory and reliable results, it is to be understood that I do not restrict myself'to the details,

as the same are susceptible of modificationfrom the spirit or: scope ofthe invention.

Having now descr bed my invention, which I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A tile consisting of a rectangular body portion having two of its adjacent edges formed with deep grooves and the remaining two edges formed with corresponding". ribs, said ribs of less width than the thickside walls and bounded bn each side with ness of the tile and provided with oblique longitudinal surfaces extending .fromthe base of said ribs to the outer respective facesof the tile, said surfaces arranged obliquely and with a lesser incline than that ofthe sides of the rib forming an obtuse angle between the said walls of the rib and the oblique bounding surfaces, and the groove of the remaining edges of the tile havingin clined side walls and bounded on opposite sides by oblique surfaces extending between the said groove and the respective faces of the tile and in which further the oblique faces of the grooves form with the oblique 105 in. various particulars without departing bounding surfaces acute angles and also forming relatively sharp corners along the grooves adapted to tightly fit upon'the ribs of adjacent tiles-whereby when such tiles are assembled one upon the other'to form a wall,V-shaped grooves opening outward are provided on-each side adjacent to their abutting edges for reception of cement, and in which further the oblique bounding surfaces both on the ribbed and grooved edges meet the outer faces of the tile in obtuse angular edges whereby all sharp corners in exposed position are eliminated.

2. A tile consisting of a rectangular mold-- ed body ofuniform thickness having two of the adjoining edges thereof formed with deep grooves and the remaining edges formed with corresponding ribs, and said body further provided withboundingsurfaces on the opposite sides of the grooves and ribs respectively said surfaces inclined outwardly and terminating in the respective outer parallel wall surfaces and forming with them obtuse angular edges to provide a lesser area on the outer exposed vertical side surfaces than the vertical sectional area adjacent the said grooves and ribs, whereby abutting interengaging tiles provide outwardly flaring open V- grooves forreception. of cement.

3. A-wall composed of a plurality of tiles directly interlocked-bothin a vertical direction 'by immediate contact and in a lateral direction by means of ribbed and grooved interengaging parts on the respective adjacent edges of the abutting tiles, and in 1 which further the adjacentedges on each side of the interlocking portions of abutting tiles are provided with grooves, said grooves being outwardly flaring and opening on the faces of the wall and between the abutting tiles, and cement filling-the said grooves. to

form a sealed -j oint between thetiles and a smooth outer continuous-surface'in the planeof the tiles and. acting to vhold the tiles' against tilting out of their common plane of alinement.

4. The invention according to claim 1, I

wherein a number of tiles of the character therein stated are assembled edge to edge both vertically andlaterally and fitted as therein stated to provide a series of inter secting V shaped grooves outwardly flared on both sides of the wall, said' V shaped grooves filled with cement having the exposed surfaces smoothed to the same plane as the outer surfaces of the tiles and ofv triangular cross section, said cement forming a sealed joint between the tiles and acting to hold the tiles against tilting out of- .their common plane f alinement. 

